


Stuck in the Balance

by War_of_the_Words



Series: Player 1 [5]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: M/M, also known as i read too much of a webcomic and now we're here, characters are probably OOC cause i suck at writing the girls, completely self-indulgent cause Life and Death AUs are my JAM, life and death au, thats literally how this started and then its created its own world from there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 12:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16158983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/War_of_the_Words/pseuds/War_of_the_Words
Summary: It wasn't exactly willing but Shinichi thought he could handle the job.Kaito was surprised that out of everyone he was chosen to take on the role.At least they both have some life lines.And maybe... each other?It's just my take on a Life and Death AU I'm just bad at summaries.





	Stuck in the Balance

The balance of Life and Death is a fragile thing. That’s the only rule that has stayed consistent in Shinichi’s years of holding his title: the apprentice of Death himself. Of course, it is a title that not many would  _ want  _ to hold, not that many  _ could _ in the first place. The only reason Shinichi was able to was because of some deal that the Kudou line had made hundreds of years ago due to their uncanny ability to meet the requirements. 

He actually found that the day-to-day routine was quite boring. It didn’t help that many people that he used to be friends with had to believe that he was dead. Well, he technically was, but only because of the amount of time he had spent around Death and the dead. 

As he headed to his post for the day, welcoming the dead that had joined them overnight, he spotted a girl that he had come to know well. Ran had been the first person that he had personally escorted alone. She was a sweet girl and he had trouble trying to decipher why she had met her end when she did. Her fiance had decided that he didn’t truly want to marry her on the day before their wedding day and had lashed out violently instead of trying to talk it out with her. Shinichi had a feeling that if he had met her before the whole Death’s apprentice thing had taken over his life, she would have had a very different person prepared to marry her. However, such relationships were forbidden between him and the dead, so he would settle for the friendship they had found. He shot her a quick smile and a wave, which were returned, before allowing his work persona to take over.

Shinichi entered the processing area to a scene of a few older women attempting to console a few children that were crying out for their parents. He took a deep breath. Today was going to be a long day.

-<3-

Kaito tended to enjoy his post as the apprentice of Life. Everyday was the constant work of creating something out of nothing, which helped keep his usual boredom at bay. The only regular complaint he had was the small issue of beings that took other’s lives. 

He often came to resent them because they added more work to his usual schedule by making them have to take the time to send the dead’s file to, well, Death so that the official report could be made. He didn’t mind when beings died naturally of a sickness or old age because those files would automatically transfer. Don’t misunderstand that he doesn’t care--any loss of life was a reason to mourn--just those that were ‘natural’ didn’t add to his usual work load.

When he was first appointed into his title, he questioned why Life and Death even needed apprentices. Life gave him some long, convoluted answer that basically boiled down to the fact that even though they were semi-immortal beings, they could never ignore their own existence and the forces that they were in control of. 

They had to, every century or so, go to Fate to be released from their titles and become mortals together, and eventually they would come to live together for eternity in Death’s realm. From his instruction, he knew that most mortal souls eventually faded, but, due to their complicated existence, not many beings that had previously held the titles of Life and Death had. Kaito easily accepted the answer. It was hard to ignore the balance that their continued existence, for the past however many years, relied on holding. 

Kaito had only met the other apprentice once. Their usual messenger was unable to carry the files so they were sent to a common ground to exchange the necessary reports. When he had arrived in the cafe in the mortal world that had been agreed upon, Kaito was very easily able to identify the other. There was just something otherworldly in the other boy’s presence. Kaito found his bright blue eyes striking in the sense that he would never have thought that something so lively could ever be associated with something as dull as death. 

If Kaito was honest with himself, the quick meeting left a lot to be desired. He really wanted to get to know the person behind the quick “here,” “thanks,” and the coffee order he had overheard. He didn’t even know the other’s name.

Kaito sighed as the list of creations for the day formed on his desk. Time to get to work.

-<3-

Shinichi had found some free time in his day and quickly made his way out to where Ran usually spent her time. Shinichi liked filling his free time by talking with the dead. It wasn’t uncommon to see him talking to Ran anytime he had a little freetime and interacting with others when he had a bit more. 

Ran was about the age he was when he left to take the apprentice role. In fact, she kind of reminded him of one of his friends. She was kind of hot-headed, but once you had earned her trust there was a kind of fierce loyalty that Shinichi didn’t think would let anyone ever break a promise they made to her. 

“Ran!”

Shinichi saw her look up from whatever she was doing and give him one of her customary smiles. “Hello, Shinichi. It’s nice to see you.”

Shinichi took a second to plop down in the grass next to her before responding. “It’s been a few days, I think, maybe a week, since we last had the chance to talk. What have you been up to?”

Ran looked at him almost appraisingly for a second, “I’ve been with the others recently. I even went to a couple of those parties that you are always complaining about. It wasn’t that bad, a couple of the others did get a bit rowdy, but it was easy to break them up and calm them down.”

“I never really took you as a party-going kind of person.”

“There’s a lot about me that you don’t know yet, Shinichi.” She smiled and layed back so she was staring at the sky, and Shinichi leaned back to join her.

It was something that was odd in Shinichi’s first while of living in Death’s realm, but the ability to see the stars from here no longer fazed him. Death had explained that the folktales where humans had assumed his realm was underground were odd--something so big could  _ obviously _ only be in another dimension. 

Of course, it took some time for Shinichi himself to accept that it was, so whenever he thought about the conversation it was usually in a sarcastic tone. 

Things were silent for a minute and Shinichi had just started to locate some of the still visible constellations when Ran spoke up again. “Shinichi, do you ever think about what would be the difference if we had met before I died? What will happen to you when I eventually fade?”

Shinichi took a moment to look at her before responding. “Sometimes. But if you fade before I give up this position it would only be a few years of remembering that you existed. Why do you ask?”

“Sonoko faded last night.”

A rush of understanding passed through Shinichi. Sonoko was the girl that Ran had confided in almost immediately when she first arrived in Death’s realm. Sonoko was the girl that encouraged Ran to open up to people after she arrived. 

It wasn’t hard to see why Ran was so suddenly worried

-<3-

Kaito was forced to step away from his growing list of work when Lady Luck arrived to talk. Lady Luck was one of the few beings that he now knew existed that he had believed in before he had joined them. The current Lady Luck was a girl named Aoko. 

Kaito was pretty sure that Aoko as a human girl during her time on earth was somewhat of a spit-fire. She lost her temper easily and tended to refer to herself in the third-person when she became extremely upset. She was also the only person that Kaito could really consider a friend since he got to the “other world.” Though, that was partially because most of the realms were kept separate from one another, and partially due to the fact that he was rarely invited to the bigger meet-ups because of his status of apprentice. 

“Hey, Kaito?”

“What’s up Aoko?” He spun around in his chair to see said woman walking into his office.

“I-I just wanted to chat for a bit. I’ve heard some rumors going around and I kind of wanted to know if you had heard any of them.”

Kaito took a moment to think about the more recent rumors and was hard pressed to think of any that had been circulating since the last time Aoko had talked to him about rumors. “The one that Death’s apprentice is dating that dead human girl?”

Aoko giggled a little bit before replying, “No not that one. Good guess though. I actually went and talked to that girl the other day.” she took a second to give kaito a suggestive look, “They aren’t dating. So your so-called destined partner isn’t cheating on you. Don’t worry.” 

Kaito felt his face warm up. He didn’t really understand why so many people in the Other realm liked to think about Life and Death as destined romantic partners. It was a common conception in the human realm as well which made him wonder if it had some truth behind it, but that didn’t mean that the idea wasn’t embarrassing. 

“I’m talking about the rumor that fate is getting ready to commence the passing ceremony.” At that statement Kaito took a second to remind himself to breathe. The passing ceremony. The hour that it would take for her to cast a few spells that would send the current Life and Death to earth and give the apprentices the full range of their duties. 

He officially only had a week and a half to get to know the rest of his duties and come to an agreement of some kind with the other apprentice, may it be an agreement of toleration, friends, lovers, enemies, or solitude.

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! It's been like a month since I updated Amongst the Dead, but I've been working on this since like June and there is another part!!! I just haven't written it, but as some of the KaiShin discord probably knows the ending scene to this is already written so it shouldn't be too long before that comes out. 
> 
> We've set up a [tumblr](https://war-of-the-words.tumblr.com) where we are working on posting everything and we have a discord server set up that has the two of us in it if you want to talk to us a little more directly (the invite link is on the tumblr) 
> 
> 'Till next time!  
> -Player 1


End file.
